CDMA Blackberry with EV-DO hits Verizon on 9/17 as the 8703e

We’ve been waiting for a decent Blackberry to hit the Verizon Wireless network and the wait appears over. The 8703e has EV-DO and Bluetooth, which pair up nicely with the QWERTY keyboard. The new handset hits the shelves first thing next week, on September 17th. With a two-year contract, Verizon will offer this new Blackberry for $349.99.

As far as the tethering question, well; since you rarely hear Verizon say this, I’ll let them answer it, via their press release: "Verizon Wireless customers can use their BlackBerry 8703e handset as a modem and get BroadbandAccess on Verizon Wireless’ award-winning Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) network. A simple cable connection from the BlackBerry 8703e to a laptop and a subscription to BroadbandAccess Connect gives customers the option of using Verizon Wireless’ wireless broadband service to download data. "